Succeeding with Agile

Resistance as a Useful Red Flag

When introducing a complex change into a large organization, resistance will be inevitable. What isn’t inevitable is the reaction of an organization’s leaders to that resistance. Paul Lawrence, whom we heard from at the start of this chapter, describes an appropriate response.

When resistance does appear, it should not be thought of as something to be overcome. Instead, it can best be thought of as a useful red flag—a signal that something is going wrong. To use a rough analogy, signs of resistance in a social organization are useful in the same way that pain is useful to the body as a signal that some bodily functions are getting out of adjustment. The resistance, like the pain, does not tell us what is wrong ...